In the comptroller's opinion, according to the report, "At this stage there is real suspicion that the free daily Israel Hayom constitutes a forbidden political donation. The AG replied that he would send him all the material at the end of the criminal investigation, but not at this stage, as the criminal investigation takes precedence over a probe.

State Comptroller Yosef Shapira (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

"Leading up to the 2015 elections, Shlomo Filber, the director general of the Ministry of Communications, wrote a statement for the Central Elections Committee in Netanyahu's name and on his behalf, according to which Netanyahu has no connection at all to the newspaper, to its editing or to its content."

Abramovitch added, "In the past, similar complaints reached the previous comptroller, Lindenstrauss, and AG Weinstein. Weinstein sent the material at the time to senior officials in his ministry, they checked, they said that there is indeed a real suspicion, but it is difficult to prove. Now after the Netanyahu-Mozes conversations, plus other materials Mozes gave to the police, the situation must change."

Arnon Mozes is the publisher and owner of Yedioth Ahronoth Group, which includes Ynet.